Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 2 Thessalonians 2:3,4
----When a republic reaches that point where they cease to govern themselves, a power will arise to govern them, so that the republic will cease to exist. So long as the Constitution stands as it is, all are protected in their rights and even though infidels or Catholics filled all the seats in congress they could pass no laws hurtful to Christianity, because the Constitution forbids religious legislation.
The speaker reads from the laws of Pennsylvania to show the character of the law to prohibit blasphemy because of public necessity 'to preserve the public tranquility.'
The statues are not wrong because blasphemy is right, but because the state, is attempting to punish a wrong with which it has nothing to do. Mr. Kent admits the statues were only continuations of colonial laws which established the Sabbath observance, hanging for witchcraft, etc., and further
--these statues appeal to the English statues,
--which belong to a union of church and state, and not to a republic, where these are distinct.
--They belong, then, to just that superstitious theocracy of the colonial days, Bloody Mary and Europe.
The papacy claims to be a moral government and to supervise the thoughts of man, and to find out the thoughts they had to establish the inquisition, and this belongs to every government that attempts to take cognizance of morality. The inquisition was always carried on to save men's souls, not to punish them.
These laws came into our country through the papal power, Henry VIII being called defender of the faith by the Pope, and after his rebellion put himself at the head of the Church of England, it being really a papacy, only with Henry VIII at its head instead of the Pope. So the English system is the papacy, only one step removed, and our colonies, being founded on the English laws, form a direct line of statues back to the papacy and behind all paganism out of which the papacy originated. Such laws should never find a place on the statue books of a free country. These laws, too, were enforced by men who supposed they were not interfering with the belief of any man, even though they prevented a man from saying anything against the accepted religion. Q: What right has a nation to say to anyone, "We don't propose to interfere with your belief," unless they have the means at hand to ascertain what he believes?
Q: Does it not imply the inquisition?
Here lies the vital point. Men can blasphemy against any other religion except the accepted religion and this religion is generally the wrong one. Christianity is never popular, or the accepted religion, or seeks to be enforced by civil power. '
This principle is largely in men now, and when a national religion is adopted it will be a pagan principle (although it is claimed to be Christian); so then we will have a Protestant faith amalgamated to a Catholic; hence an image to the papacy, a paganized Christianity.
Study the making of the papacy and then we will know what the outcome of it, because the people today have to be warned of their danger."
A.T. Jones